Amid the heartache of losing a child, WISH-TV anchor Brooke Martin has found beauty.

Martin revealed late last year that her daughter, Emma Noelle, was diagnosed with a rare, fatal birth defect. Emma died not long after her birth on March 15.

Speaking to IndyStar days before her daughter's celebration of life on Saturday, Martin said she has drawn strength from her faith and an outpouring of community support.

“I'm finding so much beauty in this journey that I never expected to be there, and it’s behind every turn and corner," she said. "It’s just been an amazing experience to see that side of it.”

She knew before her daughter was born that the child would have just minutes or hours to live, but Martin said she would have done things no other way. Now, she wants to share her experience with other families who have experienced infant loss. Her daughter's celebration of life is a public memorial, and Martin is urging others to share their stories.

"I thought, man, if we can have an opportunity with the platform that I've been given to open this up to all families," she said, "and let’s come together and let’s make all of these children known, side by side, and let’s find the hope that is in these situations."

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WISH-TV anchor Brooke Martin talks about the birth of her daughter with a fatal birth defect on Tuesday, April 23, 2019.(Photo: Matt Kryger/IndyStar)

'Zero chance of survival'

Martin was 13 weeks pregnant when she sought treatment for bronchitis.

Doctors were able to sneak her in for an ultrasound that day, she said, and they noticed something was wrong with the image they saw on the screen.

Anencephaly is a rare neural tube defect that affects the development of the fetus' brain and skull. It occurs in 3 out of 10,000 births each year in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Abnormalities are usually discovered via ultrasound during the mother's second trimester.

“You hear certain things when you’re being fed so much medical information,” Martin said, “and the thing that we heard so clearly was ‘zero chance of survival.’”

“When you see your child moving inside of you and you see her feet and her hands,” she said, “to me, that wasn’t my decision to make.”

They named her Emma Noelle, which, when said together, sounds like Emmanuel, the Hebrew word meaning “God with us.”

The couple, who have a 2-year-old son, Max, shared the diagnosis with WISH-TV viewers in November. Martin posted occasional updates throughout the remainder of her pregnancy. The outpouring of support she and her family has and continues to receive has been both overwhelming and refreshing, she said.

"It's been a really hard process, but it has absolutely softened my heart," she said, "It grew my faith, it’s drawn me closer to the community, and for those things, I’m just really grateful.”

21 minutes

Once born, anencephalic babies typically survive minutes to hours, though some can live for several days.

Born at 8:45 a.m. March 15, Emma Noelle lived 21 minutes.

A few days later, Martin shared details of their time with Emma with her Facebook followers. She highlighted the things they’ll remember — her button nose, long fingers and chubby thighs. The words they spoke to her.

We are proud of you, baby girl.

So many people love you, Emmy.

Do you know how big of an impact you’ve made?

And then:

Jesus is ready to hold you, Emma Noelle. You can go, sweet girl.

WISH-TV anchor Brooke Martin and her husband, Cole, hold daughter Emma Noelle. Emma was diagnosed with a rare, fatal birth defect and died 21 minutes after she was born March 15.(Photo: Russ Forthofer / Provided by Brooke Martin)

Thanks to a Cuddle Cot — a cooling device that helps preserve an infant's body after death so families can have bonding time — they were able to spend several days with Emma at St. Vincent Hospital for Women and Children.

But that time didn’t make saying goodbye any easier.

“The morning that we had to leave her,” Martin said, her voice crumbling, “I woke up out of my sleep in tears.”

She knew it would be a difficult journey. The pregnancy, the delivery. But there was one more heart-wrenching obstacle.

“How do I leave a building without my daughter?”

Again, Martin turned to prayer. She told God she couldn't leave.

But with those words, something in her changed.

“It was like I just got an injection," she said, "like a fresh injection of strength."

While Martin said she can only speak from her personal experience, she encouraged those navigating such losses to find faith and search for the beauty in life’s valleys.

“Sometimes we walk through our life with our belief systems and it’s not until you hit the bottom that you find out the reality of that. And it has been such an unexpected source of peace and strength,” Martin said.

“I knew that I would rely on my faith, but I didn’t understand how supernatural it would become.”

Celebrating little lives

Among the countless messages she has received since announcing Emma’s diagnosis, Martin noticed a common thread.

“As soon as we made the announcement, I started getting hundreds of emails of support — and they were all of support — but a lot of them included (their) own stories of infant loss,” she said. “And what I noticed is that they included details. I mean, names and dates and times and what age they would have been today.”

Recognizing she had been given a platform that allowed her to raise awareness of the issue of infant loss, Martin decided to host a memorial that would be open to the public. She wants other families who have experienced similar losses to know they’re not alone on their journeys.

“I think that for the majority of infant loss families, it’s a very lonely road,” Martin said. “It's a road where people tiptoe and don’t want to bring it up ... and that's the last thing, I think, that a lot of parents want. They want people to ask about their child; they want them to ask their name and to be able to speak it.”

As they celebrate Emma’s life at Traders Point Christian Church in Whitestown Saturday morning, Martin hopes other families who have experienced infant loss will join her.

She has asked members of the public to submit the names of their own lost children via a Google Form shared to her Facebook page. Those names will come together in a display at the memorial, a way of letting the world know that these little lives, no matter how short, made a big difference.

"They have played an eternal role in this life, and we’re going to make them known and celebrate them," she said, "and also find the hope that this isn’t the end."

Emma Noelle Umstattd was born March 15 and lived just 21 minutes. Her mother, WISH-TV anchor Brooke Martin, shared in November that Emma had been diagnosed with anencephaly, a rare and fatal birth defect.(Photo: Russ Forthofer / Provided by Brooke Martin)

If you go

Details: Emma's celebration of life is open to the public. If you have experienced infant loss and wish to add your child's name to the list of infants being remembered at the memorial, fill out the Google Form available at https://bit.ly/2INEg8u.

In lieu of flowers, Martin and her family are asking that those interested make donations in Emma's honor to He Knows Your Name, an Indianapolis-based ministry that offers financial and emotional assistance to families that experience infant loss.

Donations to the organization's general fund can be made via PayPal on its website, heknowsyourname.org, or by mailing a check to He Knows Your Name at 5999 E. 86th St. Suite 210, Indianapolis, IN 46250.